This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a clamping joint for pipes made of polymer material or of composite materials, said clamping joint including a connector, which has a support sleeve for fitting onto a pipe to be connected and which is defined at one end by way of a stop collar, wherein a sealing element is arranged on the support sleeve, wherein the clamping joint additionally has a clamping sleeve which is already captively connected to the stop collar of the connector prior to the mounting of the pipe.
Discussion
Pipes made of polymer material such as, for example, PE-X pipes and multilayer composite pipes which, for example, have an inside and outside layer made of a polymer material such as PE-X and an intermediate layer made of aluminium, are predominantly used in domestic engineering, in the supply of drinking water, for floor heating or heating unit service lines.
Clamping joints of this type are used in the majority of cases in heating and sanitation installations in order to connect pipes together or to fittings. A clamping joint provides for simple and rapid assembly. In addition, permanent sealing is ensured, which is extremely important in the case of such joints as considerable damage can occur in the event of water leakage.
DE 42 39 705 C2 makes known a clamping joint which consists of a clamping sleeve and a basic fitting body. The clamping sleeve has an inside contour which is realized, proceeding in each case from the two sleeve ends towards the middle of the clamping sleeve, as a conically narrowing or combined conically/convexly narrowing bore. The effect of said inside contour of the clamping sleeve is that the clamping sleeve can be used regardless of how it is placed in position on the pipe.
Disadvantages here are the production of the complicated inside contour of the clamping sleeve and the subsequent control of the contour.
DE 195 14 210 C2 also discloses a clamping joint for pipes and hoses of the same type. The support and clamping sleeves are realized in such a manner that they improve the sealing capacity and also the longitudinal adhesion capacity, which is to be achieved by means of the ribs on the support sleeve and the inside contour of the clamping sleeve.
The disadvantage of the two clamping joints mentioned previously is that the pipe to be connected has first of all to be widened prior to the connection in order to be able to push it subsequently over the support sleeve. This requires an additional operating step which makes the assembly more expensive. In addition, in the case of the connections mentioned previously the fitting on of the clamping sleeve prior to the attaching of the pipe on the support sleeve can easily be forgotten, which is why the pipe then has to be removed again from the support sleeve and the clamping sleeve has subsequently to be fitted onto the pipe. The pipe can then be pushed onto the support sleeve from the beginning.
DE 20 2004 000 031 U1 discloses a pipe press coupling which has a support sleeve, a press sleeve and a crimping sleeve. The individual parts are already pre-assembled prior to the mounting of the pipe so that the assembly expenditure can be reduced to a minimum. In addition, the assembly itself is considerably simplified as a result of the pipe coupling not having to be assembled first of all.
A disadvantage of said coupling, however, is the severe cross-sectional narrowing with regard to the pipe cross section. In addition, the disadvantage of this type of pipe connection, as with the previously mentioned connections, is that where there is strong tensile force on the pipe the clamping/pressing or clamping sleeve/press sleeve becomes detached.